BASEBALL

Baseball Brings in Manderino and Odean to Assist Coaching Staff in 2012

August 8, 2011

MISENHEIMER, N.C. – Pfeiffer University head baseball coach Mark Hayes announced the hiring of Mike Manderino and Josh Odean who join the Falcon baseball coaching staff as assistants for the upcoming 2012 season. Both coaches bring experience with big leaguers to Misenheimer in previous coaching campaigns.

Coach Manderino begins his first year as the Falcons pitching coach, after spending two seasons as the pitching coach for the Asheboro Copperheads in the Coastal Plains League. Coach Manderino has 19 years experience as an educator and baseball coach starting in high school as a teacher and coach. After a stint as an assistant coach at Pittsburg State University and Fort Scott Community College in Kansas, Coach Manderino moved to California and spent nine years as an assistant at Porterville College and College of the Sequoias.

In 2001, he was also chosen to travel to Europe as part of the Major League Baseball Envoy Program. Coach Manderino has also been an associate scout for the Atlanta Braves and Boston Red Sox. An opportunity to coach in Italy later came in 2007 as he spent a year in Verona.

In addition to handling the pitching staff, Coach Manderino will assist in recruiting and fundraising activities for the Falcon Baseball Program.

Coach Odean begins his second season with the Falcons after spending 2011 as a volunteer coach with the Falcons. His playing career started at Fort Scott Community College in Kansas before finishing up at nearby Winthrop. When his playing eligibility had ended, Coach Odean stayed at Winthrop for an extra semester to finish up a Bachelor’s Degree. During the summer months, he assisted Coach Hudak with the maintenance of Winthrop’s baseball field and acquired internship hours by umpiring, coaching, and maintaining youth baseball fields for the City of Rock Hill, South Carolina.

In 2003, he returned to school and earned a Masters Degree from Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. While working towards his Masters, Coach Odean earned internship hours with Vanderbilt University and Belmont University in the Strength and Conditioning Departments working with 12 different sports.

After completing his Masters in Sport Administration, a position with the Detroit Tigers came along as a Minor League Strength and Conditioning Coach in Lakeland, Florida. While working with Detroit, he oversaw all aspects of the Lakeland Tigers conditioning, lifting and nutrition programs. Along with fulfilling obligations to the Lakeland Tigers, the opportunity to work with big-league players on the disabled list was also present by assisting in the rehabilitation programs designed by team physicians.